On the Order of Nature

The date of Parmenides' birth is uncertain but, according to the indications of Apollodoros, it can be placed between the sixth and the fifth centuries B.C. Parmenides was born in Magna Graecia, in Elea (today's Velia, Italy) located on the coast of Campania south of Paestum into a family of noble lineage and quite well off. It is known that he governed and gave very good laws to his city (in those days, as it happened, cities were governed by Philosophers), and every year the Eleans pledged their loyalty to those laws. The Pythagorean Ameinias introduced Parmenides to the peace of contemplation, and because of this relationship, Parmenides himself is considered a Pythagorean.Parmenides was the first metaphysician in the history of Western philosophy. Metaphysician because he positioned himself beyond time, space and cause.
In the field of Western Philosophy Parmenides' influence can be noted by the following:
- A logical dialectical rigor in the exposition
- An existential vision addressed to the human entity
- A truth coming from on high and not empirically theorized or conceptualized by the dianoetic mind
Such a sacred vision can be revolutionary in a culture that, given the signs of the times, is characterized by a gloomy spiritual, ethical, cultural and political impoverishment.